2008 Ford Ranger Recalls

Recalls on record Updated July 2026

The 2008 Ford Ranger has 5 NHTSA recall campaigns affecting an estimated 5,177,488 vehicles. Recall repairs are always free at any authorized dealer. Owners have filed 340 complaints with NHTSA, most often about the air bags. Last updated July 5, 2026.

Recall campaigns

AIR BAGS 21V158000 2021-03-10 2,602,668 affected
Defect

Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2007-2011 Ranger, 2006-2012 Fusion, Lincoln Zephyr, Lincoln MKZ, 2006-2011 Mercury Milan, 2007-2010 Ford Edge, and Lincoln MKX vehicles. The driver's side air bag inflator may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute…

Consequence

An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants, resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver-side airbag inflator or module with an alternate one, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on April 9, 2021 for the passenger side, and November 14, 2022 for the driver side. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. …

AIR BAGS 21V081000 2021-02-16 1,067 affected
Defect

Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2005-2014 Mustang, 2004-2011 Ranger, 2009-2011 Mercury Milan, 2006 Ford GT, 2008-2012 Fusion, 2007-2010 Edge and Lincoln MKX, and 2009-2010 Lincoln MKZ vehicles. These vehicles may be equipped with a driver or passenger frontal air bag inflator used as a replacement…

Consequence

In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the frontal air bag, an inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the driver and passenger air bag module, and replace either the module or the inflator, if necessary, free of charge. The recall began March 17, 2021. Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 21S05.

AIR BAGS 17V024000 2017-01-10 654,695 affected
Defect

Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain 2012 Ford Fusion and Mustang and Lincoln Zephyr and MKZ vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands…

Consequence

An inflator rupture may result in metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy

Owners are advised not to drive their vehicles until the repair has been performed. Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. Interim letters informing owners of the recall and that parts are not yet available began mailing March 1, 2017. Owners will…

AIR BAGS 16V384000 2016-05-31 1,892,343 affected
Defect

Ford Motor Company (Ford) is recalling certain model year 2007-2011 Ford Ranger vehicles, 2006-2011 Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln Zephyr/MKZ vehicles, 2007-2010 Ford Edge, Lincoln MKX vehicles, 2005-2006 Ford GT vehicles, and 2005-2011 Ford Mustang vehicles originally sold, or ever registered, in Alabama,…

Consequence

An inflator rupture may result in metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy

Owners are advised not to drive their vehicles until the repair has been performed. Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the passenger frontal air bag inflator, free of charge. Ford mailed interim letters informing owners that parts are not yet available on July 15, 2016. Owners will receive a second…

EXTERIOR LIGHTING 11V352000 2011-07-13 26,715 affected
Defect

FORD IS RECALLING CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2011 RANGER TRUCKS BUILT FROM JANUARY 25, 2011, THROUGH APRIL 25, 2011 AT THE TWIN CITIES ASSEMBLY PLANT, AND SERVICE PARTS DISTRIBUTED TO DEALERS FOR CERTAIN 2004 THROUGH 2011 MODEL YEAR RANGER TRUCKS, 2002 THROUGH 2005 MODEL YEAR EXCURSION VEHICLES, AND 2002 THROUGH 2007 MODEL…

Consequence

NON-FUNCTIONING LIGHTS COULD INCREASE THE RISK OF A CRASH.

Remedy

DEALERS WILL REPLACE THE SWITCHES FREE OF CHARGE. THE SAFETY RECALL BEGAN ON AUGUST 15, 2011. OWNERS MAY CONTACT FORD MOTOR COMPANY CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP CENTER AT 1-866-436-7332.

Complaints by component

AIR BAGS
291
5crashes5injuries1deaths
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
7
STRUCTURE:BODY
6
ENGINE
4
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
4
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
3
AIR BAGS:FRONTAL
2
2crashes2injuries
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
2
FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE
2
1fires
STRUCTURE
2
Total complaints340

What owners report

Verbatim reports filed with NHTSA, lightly edited for readability and with personal information removed.

“Car accident on 6/21/2023 - richardson texas air bags never deployed. The truck hit a tree head on . The air bags were maintainced at the ford dealership a couple of years ago when we got the recall notice passanger air bag never deployed”

AIR BAGS · reported 2023-06-21

“Several attempts have been made to attain an appointment to remedy this recall with a local dealership (long-lewis) in corinth, ms. As of today, I have made six attempts to talk with service about this recall, no response has yet been offered. My concern is that I have been driving this vehicle…”

AIR BAGS · reported 2022-10-06

“Recently purchased this truck and apparetly the passeenger air bag was missing or had previosly failed by imploding. I do not now the history of vehicle. I carried the truck to rockwall ford in rockwall, texas to have the air bag recall taken care off. After being there for a week the service…”

AIR BAGS · reported 2022-09-06

“This recall has been unresolved for over 2 years.”

AIR BAGS · reported 2021-12-11

“The contact owns a 2008 ford ranger. The contact stated that after lending the vehicle to a neighbor, the neighbor informed the contact that the vehicle was making an abnormal noise. Upon inspection, the contact became aware that the rear spring hangers had detached. The vehicle was not taken to…”

SUSPENSION:REAR:SPRINGS · reported 2021-08-24

“Takata recall. The contact owns a 2008 ford ranger. The contact received a notification for nhtsa campaign number: 21v158000 (air bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was not available. Several dealers including autonation ford littleton (8252 s broadway, littleton, co 80122), schomp…”

AIR BAGS · reported 2021-05-01

“The rear frame is rotted I am a retired asa certified in 5 categories mechanic and I have my ranger apart now but I need new rear frame where the spring hangers rotted out and the bracket that runs the top of the gas tank is rotted out that holds the 2 frame rails is rotted out. These pieces…”

STRUCTURE:BODY · reported 2021-01-18

“We are still getting recall notices even though the airbags have been repaired. We contacted ford and they said they have record of the repair being completed but we need to contact dmv to get it recorded.”

AIR BAGS · reported 2021-01-01

Defect investigations

Investigation PE08060 Opened 2008-10-14 · closed 2009-04-09

TIRE VALVE CRACKING

ON OCTOBER 14, 2008, ODI OPENED PE08-060 TO INVESTIGATE ALLEGATIONS OF CRACKED AND LEAKING SNAP-IN TIRE VALVES IN MODEL YEAR (MY) 2007 VEHICLES MANUFACTURED BY FORD MOTOR COMPANY.THE VALVES WERE SUPPLIED TO FORD BY TOPSEAL AUTO-PARTS, A SUBSIDIARY OF THE SHANGHAI BAOLONG AUTOMOTIVE CORPORATION IN CHINA.VALVES MADE BY…

Sources & methodology

Recall, complaint, and investigation records from official NHTSA datasets (FLAT_RCL, FLAT_CMPL, FLAT_INV), synced weekly. Counts reflect NHTSA records for the 2008 Ford Ranger as of July 5, 2026. Complaint narratives are consumer-submitted and unverified. This page contains ads and affiliate links. Full methodology.